Of Romance and Impending Doom
by Morte Lise
Summary: It's been three years since Dark and Krad were locked away, so naturally their past comes back to haunt them the moment they let down their guard...and it's bringing quite a few...friends along for the ride.


New to the fandom, no, but new to the fanfiction realm, yes, if by 'new' you mean this is my first posted DNAngel fanfiction story.

Fear not, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing, but there's no telling how psychotic it might become.

If there's anything _to_ fear, it's the impending (but mild) yaoi of later chapters—of the Dark/Krad variety, rather than Daisuke/Satoshi. It may take some time to reveal itself, but it eventually shall in all its shounen-ai glory. You have been warned.

Now let's get started, shall we?

Disclaimer: Presumably, the owner of DNAngel has a life, or at least a great deal more money than me, so it's safe to say that I am not the aforementioned owner. I am, however, sadly responsible for the psychosis that is the main antagonist.

…Oh, and this is post-anime, in case you were wondering.

* * *

_Prologue_

Dark hated the color white.

While an outside observer would have immediately blamed Krad for the nature of this hatred, the blonde angel was actually not responsible for that particular abhorrence. No, the true answer was a great deal simpler than that.

The inside of the Black Wings was white. Ironic, it's true, but oblivion isn't colored the deep unending obsidian that most people imagine. The pure, glaring brightness of eternity stung the kaitou's eyes, blinding him in a way the darkness could never accomplish. The dazzling mockery of perfection was driving him mad. At least black had the decency to initiate silence. White _screamed_.

In addition to that was the uncomfortable nature in which he was arranged. To be sealed was very much a literal term—metal chains, stronger than any sort of steel or other alloy of the mortal realm bound the thief, lashing his arms above his head and pinning him close to a non-existent wall. His…unusual nature prevented his legs—shackled under his kneeling form and quite useless at the moment—from becoming numb, but had no such luck with his wings, which burned with an unceasing pain as the pressure of the chains crushed them against an invisible surface.

Dark sighed. He was happy for Daisuke, yes, and he prayed to whatever powers existed in the high heavens that the boy was carrying on with his life peacefully, but somewhere inside he was crying—_sobbing_, even. Prison and restraint didn't suit the free-flying kaitou, even for the slightest instant. This wasn't an instant. It was _eternity_. An eternity with this pain, this paradox of screaming silence, this limitation and binding, this endless shade of accursed _white_.

Not to mention, the company _sucked_.

Krad's amber eyes—by now twice as insane, and furious to boot—flickered over to meet Dark's, and despite the fury radiating from their owner the thief could almost have cried with happiness at the sight of some actual _color_ amid the endlessness. Dark arched a violet eyebrow.

"Decided to talk to me now?" The very sound of his own voice startled him as it shattered through the deafening quiet that had reigned for what seemed like eons—ever since they'd first become trapped within the Black Wings. Krad's glare only increased, and Dark chanced a sardonic smirk at his opposite number. "Then again, you're free to take as much time as you want. I've got all the time in the world to wait."

"_I hate you_." The words came out in a low, venomous hiss, dripping with malice and the promise of pain. The angel's inhumanly beautiful features were distorted into a snarl of rage.

"No surprises there," the violet-haired thief muttered. He quickly reassumed his guise of confidence and grinned mockingly in Krad's direction. "Hate to break it to you, but it doesn't really matter. You're _stuck_ with me."

The expression on the Hikari half of the Black Wings managed to somehow surpass itself on its way to turning murderous.

Dark mentally rolled his eyes, resigning himself to his relatively mundane and incredibly boring fate. Baiting Krad would only work for so long—after all, neither could even _move_, let alone attack the other. Ah, well. He'd chosen this fate for himself, after all.

And there were far worse things that could've happened in lieu of _this_ punishment.

---

"Are you lost there, little boy?"

Wide, dark brown eyes stared innocently up at the security guard from beneath the too-large hood of a massive and weather-beaten cloak. A shy, innocent smile crossed the young, charming face, and the action was somehow so touching—no, _bewitching_—that the man couldn't help but feel his heart melt. Who wouldn't? The kid made cute little puppies look like Cujo.

"I'm fine," he reassured the guard, his voice quiet and lilting. "It's just…this is the fastest way home, and my mommy's gonna be real mad if I'm late."

The man grinned down at him. "Well, as long as you're all right, kiddo. Stay safe!" he called to the child's retreating back.

"I will!" the boy shouted behind him, quickly vanishing into the darkness.

Before him loomed a decrepit, ruined building, and it was with uncanny agility and grace that the small, lithe figure navigated through the wreckage, finally coming to a halt in front of a bleak monstrosity chained to a thankfully intact wall.

Something about the boy's countenance seemed to suddenly shift, banishing the innocence and replacing it with harsh, feral joy as he observed the artwork.

"Black Wings," he whispered softly, staring at it with a distinctly carnivorous gleam in his chocolate-colored eyes.

A hand withdrew from beneath the cloak, and with a subtle wave, a copper feather materialized itself between his fingers. The boy muttered an incantation under his breath, watching the Black Wings slowly illuminate with an ethereal luminescence, then made a sharp gesture with the feather.

There was a cacophony of rattling chains as the artwork burst into a blinding light, two figures emerging violently from its depths and sprawling across the ruined floor.

Gold and violet stared into brown as both Krad and Dark tried to get their bearings.

The boy beamed brightly at the confused pair.

"Heya guys, it's been a while!"

---

Dark took a moment to remember exactly which way 'up' was, his muddled mind trying to reorient itself while dealing with the sudden pain of being thrown from the Black Wings on to a less-than-ideal landing cushion of jagged stone. He twisted himself every which way before establishing that the floor was down, and the…opposite of the floor was not, and propped himself painfully on to his elbows, taking in his surroundings before his eyes landed on the small figure before him.

The thief felt himself go cold. There was no word in existence strong enough to describe the horror he felt at that moment.

…Well, maybe _one_.

"G--" Dust caught in his throat and he began to cough. "G-Ga--" More coughing. _Damn it!_

"Gabriel," the boy offered helpfully. Dark couldn't help but wince.

_Great._ _Less than a minute of freedom and I've already run into the only angel in _existence _who's even more deranged than Krad._

Speaking of the psychotic blonde, it seemed that he'd managed to right himself a great deal quicker than his opposite number, and was already prepared to launch a glowing, humming (and admittedly half-assed, due to his lengthy imprisonment) orb of energy at the seemingly young boy.

The attack took Gabriel by surprise, and the child's eyes widened in shock as the spell sent him tumbling backwards, creating a new crater in the already ruined floor. He staggered out of it moments later, the cloak clearly ruined and tearing to reveal his copper-colored wings, not nearly as impressive as either of his older-looking kin, but every bit as functional. The brunette (as he turned out to be) looked otherwise unharmed, frowning deeply as he surveyed the damage done to his clothing.

"Nice ta know _you_ haven't changed, Krad." He turned his eyes to Dark, who'd taken the time to stand and was busy preparing his own spell. "And what about _you_, Mousy? Are you still as hypocritical as ever?"

The thief glared at him, exchanging a subtle glance with his rival before addressing the boy. While there was normally nothing that could get the two opposing forces to agree on an alliance, Gabriel happened to be one of the few catastrophic exceptions to that rule. "You can't take on _both_ of us, Gabriel."

Something about the statement seemed to trigger a change in the younger angel, and he flashed them a satisfied and decidedly diabolical grin. "Tru—ue," he lilted happily, conspicuously hiding his hands behind his back and fixing them with a sadistic gaze. "_Normally_, I wouldn't be able to. But then again, I just _freed_ you from the Black Wings, so I'd hardly call these circumstances _normal_, you know?"

By this time, both Dark and Krad were more than ready to launch a second attack on the boy. Gabriel, on the other hand, looked completely unperturbed, and a second later the other two saw _why_ when he suddenly closed a hand around an invisible something and _yanked_.

_Hard_.

Dark's world instantly exploded into what seemed like an eternity of white-hot agony, his vision taking a quick exploration through the not-colors of white and black before settling into a red haze as unspeakable pain tore through him. He might've screamed—it wasn't as though he could tell, what with the static overtaking his hearing and replacing it with blaring alarms of '_you are in _PAIN_, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT._' For a-moment-forever time ceased to have meaning, until the torment finally stopped—not _completely_, mind you; it still hurt like _anything_, but whatever had initially caused it was over and done with.

The violet-haired thief opened bleary eyes (when had he shut them?) and realized vaguely that Krad was trembling, yes, _trembling_, somewhere to the left of him, and Gabriel's cat-that-ate-the-whole-damn-aviary smile was stretched a mile wide as he tauntingly dangled the chains that had previously been binding them before him. Tangled in the metal was something feathered and incredibly bloody.

The shattered remains of Dark's conscious and comprehensive mind feebly commented, '_well…_this _doesn't look good_.'

The brunette gave a condescending sigh and dropped the tattered wings to the ground with a foreboding thud. "You're still bound to the _artwork_, you morons!" he giggled, brown eyes sparkling with amusement. "But hey, if you're not smart enough to figure that out, I figure you deserve to lose 'em."

He sat down on the ground with a soft 'thump', tilting his head and eyeing them inquisitively. "If it were up to me," he told them conversationally, "I'd have killed you by now. But noooo, my master needs you for something." Gabriel made a face. "Whatever. You guys have fun with the whole wingless…pain…thing. Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be back to have a nice long chat with you two later." He grinned and leapt back to his feet, stretching out his own pair of wings. "See you aro—und!"

…_Insane…little…bastard..._ Dark thought mutinously, watching the ever-shrinking speck of brown vanish into the distance.

Then his vision failed him completely.

* * *

Behold the vague cliffhanger and tremble! …Or…don't.

I normally try to avoid OC's, but I was tired of Krad taking the rap, and Satoshi's stepfather is pretty…well…dead, so Gabriel was born. He only gets worse from hereon out.

This may take a while in updating, but I decided to post it regardless of the…well…EVERYTHING I have to do on top of writing a new chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

If you're happy and you know it, click the review button!

…And I do apologize for the tasteless parody that was that plea for attention.


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